Fashion Scoops
Ciao Jessica
In the year of its centenary, Damiani is stepping up its game by naming Jessica Chastain its global brand ambassador.
The Academy Award winner is to appear in Damiani’s spring 2024 ad campaign, to be released later in the season, a move that is in sync with the Italian jeweler’s legacy of conscripting celebrities for its ad campaigns.
“I am delighted to be Damiani’s global ambassador and to represent the values of this wonderful company throughout the world. One hundred years of history, passion, craftsmanship [ and] creativity are an important legacy worth preserving,” Chastain said. “It is an honor for me to be a part of a family that safeguards and passes on Italy’s artisanal excellence worldwide.”
Chastain joins South Korean actress and model Lee Sung- Kyoung as a Damiani ambassador.
The Hollywood actress — who most recently costarred alongside Anne Hathaway in “Mothers’ Instinct,” a Benoît Delhomme- directed psychological thriller movie — cohosted a gala night last month in Milan to celebrate Damiani’s anniversary, which drew Sophia Loren and Sung- Kyoung, as well as local celebrities.
On that occasion Chastain posed for photographers in a strapless dark gown and an impressive necklace named “Mimosa Eternal Blue” featuring a 100- karat blue sapphire framed by diamonds. The jewel is among the one- of- akind pieces that Damiani showcases in its exhibition being held until April 28 at Milan’s Gallerie d’Italia to spotlight the brand’s craftsmanship and creativity.
“It is an honor to welcome Jessica into our family. Her extraordinary qualities as an actress and as a person are known to all, but ours is also a choice of the heart,” said the company’s president Guido Damiani in a statement. “Jessica is a sophisticated, committed, acclaimed woman, but most of all, she is authentic and true to her values — just like us. Together, I am sure we will do great things and achieve important new goals.”
In a recent interview with WWD, Damiani highlighted how his father, Damiano, a second- generation member of the founding family, disrupted the industry by tapping a roster of A- listers for its campaigns, from
Brad Pitt and Isabella Rossellini to Sharon Stone and Jennifer Aniston, at a time when advertisements were not widespread among jewelry brands.
The storied high jeweler was founded in Valenza, Italy, in 1924 by Enrico Grassi Damiani, Guido’s grandfather, and has gained celebrity fans Stone, Tilda Swinton, Loren and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In addition to the namesake brand, the Damiani Group comprises the Bliss label introduced in 2000; jeweler Calderoni, which was acquired in
2006; retailer Rocca, bought in 2008, as well as leading glassmaker Venini, which the group first invested in in 2016.
The company said that Chastain was introduced to the company and family during a visit to Venini’s premises in Murano, Italy, escorted by Silvia Damiani, vice president of Damiani Group and president of the glassmaker.
— MARTINO CARRERA
Ferretti In Dallas
Brian Bolke was extolled as more than an impresario of cutting- edge fashion when he and Marguerite Hoffman cohosted a dinner at her home Wednesday night to hail the fifth anniversary of his store, The Conservatory. One by one, Hoffman, Todd Fiscus, Moll Anderson and Becca Cason Thrash stood to recognize Bolke’s passion and connection to his clientele in emotional tributes that reminded guests of a wedding.
Alberta Ferretti, whose fashions Bolke has long promoted, and Aeffe USA president Khoa Nguyen were among the guests, many of whom wore styles from her spring collection.
After cocktails in Hoffman’s private art gallery studded with works by Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and dozens of other famous artists from the mid 20th and 21st centuries, everyone strolled past crepe myrtle trees threaded with white lights and found their places at a table for 42 on the loggia overlooking the garden.
“I’m so grateful to you for making a difference in my life,” Hoffman said in her toast to Bolke. “It’s about the people that are in his orbit that he loves, and because he cares he’s been able to be compelling in his business, The Conservatory….Thank you for blazing a path. Thank you for being a shining light.”
Admitting that he struggled to find the words to express his feelings, Bolke told the group he wrote “time,” “loyalty” and “longevity” on his hand. He recognized individual staffers at the table who have been with him since he created the Avant Garden floral shop 30 years ago in Highland Park Village and later cofounded the luxury store Forty Five Ten, which subsequently was sold to Headington Cos.
Bolke said he had “no idea what I was doing” when Forty Five Ten debuted in 2000, recounting that retail icon Stanley Marcus visited one month later.
“He had a cane and walked around the store very slowly and didn’t say a word. As he was leaving, he said, ‘ If you make it one year, this will be very successful,’ and I was like, what does that mean? One year later I think we made it, and 9- 11 happened. If you were in retail, you thought you were going to go out of business.”
A sale that helped keep the store alive was three pricy Ferretti skirts to one woman on the same day they arrived.
“Six months after 9/ 11, it was the biggest sale we’d ever had,” Bolke said. “For 22 years we’ve carried Alberta Ferretti.”
Telling the assemblage they were “very special” and “beautiful,” Ferretti added, “It is a very good inspiration for my next collection.”
“I wore Alberta Ferretti to the first Two by Two [ for AIDS and Art], and I wish I still had it,” Thrash said.
Anderson, an interior designer and bestselling author, said Bolke was the first person she met upon moving to Dallas, which proved pivotal.
“You opened a whole new world for me,” she said. “You gave me experiences that I dreamt about….Thank you for taking the time to introduce us to people that I never would have met.”
Guests, representing almost a who’s who of Dallas art collectors, included Cindy Rachofsky,